Friday, October 31, 2014

Ashraf Sweilam and Maggie Michael

EL-ARISH, Egypt - With dynamite and bulldozers, Egypt's army demolished
dozens of homes along its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after
the military ordered residents out to make way for a planned buffer
zone meant to stop extremists and smugglers.

The plan to clear 10,000 residents from some 800 houses over just
several days has angered the area's population, which has long held
grievances with Cairo.

"To throw 10,000
people into the street in a second, this is the biggest threat to
national security," said Ayman Mohsen, whose sister left her house about
350 yards from the border. Speaking to the Associated Press via online
messages, he said the army told residents to leave on Tuesday within 48
hours, and that houses would be blown up even if people remained inside.

Over the last decade, the northern region of the Sinai Peninsula has
become a hub for Islamic extremists, although insurgency has spiked
since last year's military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
It has also spread to other parts of Egypt, with extremists targeting
police in Cairo and the Nile Delta.

The move to set up the planned 8-mile buffer zone, which will be 500
yards wide, comes after extremists attacked an army checkpoint near
Sheikh Zuweyid town last week, killing 31 soldiers. No group claimed
responsibility.

After the attack, Egypt declared a three-month state of emergency and
dawn-to-dusk curfew there and indefinitely closed the Gaza crossing, the
only non-Israeli passage for the crowded strip with the world.

Mona Barhomaa, an activist who lives 800 yards from the border and who
is not affected by the evacuation order, said she supported the
demolitions.

"The tunnels to me are like windows that for years my neighbors have
used to infiltrate my house," she said, referring to the underground
passageways used to smuggle goods and weapons. "The tunnels led us into
this hellish situation."

Many residents were angered by the short notice and poor local
organization, as well as a hostile media campaign unleashed days earlier
that saw private and public television commentators equating opposition
to the plan with treason.

Tanks and armored vehicles sealed off all of Rafah as thick gray smoke
rose in the sky each time demolition charges went off and another house
was toppled.

The corridor will eventually be monitored by surveillance cameras and
feature a water-filled trench that will be 40 yards wide, 20 yards deep,
and run all along the border to the Mediterranean Sea, officials said.

Mansour, who is facing a 15-year jail term in his home country, is
one of several journalists working for the Qatar-based media network
convicted in absentia by Egyptian courts.

In a statement on Tuesday, Doha-based Al Jazeera quoted Interpol as
saying that the "red notice request" issued by Egyptian authorities "did
not meet Interpol’s rules."

Egypt has stepped up efforts to curb dissent following the military
coup in 2013 that toppled President Mohamed Morsi, ordering the arrest
of prominent opposition leaders, Muslim Brotherhood members, activists
and journalist.

Three Al Jazeera English journalists - Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy
and Peter Greste - were arrested late in 2013 and recently marked their 300th day in jail.

An Egyptian court convicted Mansour earlier this month of "carrying
out torture against a lawyer in Cairo's Tahrir Square during the
revolution" of January 2011.

Mansour has vigorously rejected the charges, which Doha-based Al
Jazeera has dismissed as "a flimsy attempt at character assassination."

Speaking to Al Jazeera English on Tuesday, Mansour said the Interpol's rebuff casts doubt on the Egyptian judiciary's decisions.

An Al Jazeera Media Network spokesman in the Qatari capital Doha said
the Egyptian "campaign" to intimidate journalists is "not working" and
called on the government to stop going after journalists including
Mansour.

The spokesman also repeated the media network's call for the release of Greste, Mohamed and Fahmy.

CAIRO — Egypt’s president expanded the
powers of the country’s armed forces Monday to enable the prosecution
of civilians in military courts, a move that rights activists fear will
intensify an already searing government crackdown on dissent.

The measures by President ­Abdel Fatah al-Sissi
give the military even broader reach than during the decades under
Hosni Mubarak, who applied relentless pressure on perceived opponents
until his ouster in early 2011.

Sissi’s decree allows the
military to try civilians for a wide variety of crimes, including
destroying public property and blocking roads.

Egypt’s
constitution already grants the army the ability to try cases that
directly involve a military officer or an army installation. But
Monday’s edict extends the military’s jurisdiction to cover attacks on
“vital” institutions such as power plants, oil fields and bridges.

The
suicide car bombing killed more than 30 soldiers, making it the
deadliest attack on Egyptian army personnel in decades. Government
officials said Monday that the law is necessary to ensure the safety of
citizens and that it will remain in force for two years.

But
military trials in Egypt are often held in secret, and judges mete out
swift verdicts that can be challenged only before a military appeals
court. Activists say civilian lawyers have trouble navigating the
military justice system, leaving defendants without proper legal
counsel.

Experts are worried that the scope of the military’s
expanded jurisdiction will permanently sideline civilian courts in favor
of army tribunals.

“This decree means we will destroy the
civilian courts and make military justice the norm,” said Mohamed Zarea,
director of the Cairo-based Arab Penal Reform Organization, which
offers legal assistance to prisoners. “We can’t just turn all of our
state institutions into military institutions.”

The current government has presided over one of the most repressive periods in Egypt’s history, beginning when Sissi toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in 2013.

The subsequent rise of a low-level insurgency has contributed to steady attacks against security personnel, killing hundreds.

Authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people in a bid to cripple the Muslim Brotherhood,
the Islamist group that backed Morsi and that is Egypt’s largest
opposition movement. But the clampdown also has extended to secular
activists and students opposed to Sissi’s rule.

On Sunday, an Egyptian judge sentenced 23 activists to three years in prison for violating a protest law
adopted late last year. In the wake of the Sinai attack, Egyptian media
personalities have urged the local press to refrain from publishing
stories that would “undermine” the army’s efforts to fight terrorism.

“This
is just the imposition of authoritarian power through emergency law,”
said Amir Salem, an Egyptian human rights lawyer. “And what it means is
that there will be more decrees like this and probably more crackdowns.”

CAIRO — A group of Egyptian newspaper editors pledged Sunday to limit their criticism of state institutions, a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, warned of a “conspiracy” behind a militant attack last week that killed at least 31 soldiers.

The
editors said they condemned the attack, which occurred on Friday in the
Sinai Peninsula, while promising to confront the “hostile culture
toward the national project and the foundations of the Egyptian state.”

The
statement raised the likelihood of growing limits on dissent, and
appeared to be an attempt to please Mr. Sisi, who drastically sharpened
his own tone on Saturday in dealing with the simmering Islamist
insurgency centered in the Sinai Peninsula that escalated after the
military takeover in July 2013.

In
discussing Friday’s attack — the deadliest assault on the Egyptian
military in years — Mr. Sisi grew visibly angry, vaguely blaming foreign
plots that he said sought to “break Egypt’s will.”

“Egypt
is undergoing an existential battle,” he said, adding, “We must know
the dimensions of the big conspiracy against us” that aims “to bring
down this state.” And he warned of more hardship to come.

“There
is struggle, pain and blood,” he said, recounting the hundreds of
soldiers and police officers who have been killed in militant attacks.
“Sinai’s battle is ongoing, it will not end in a few weeks or couple of
months. Please, let us stand steadfast, and let no one break the will of
the Egyptian people, or the army.”

Over
the last few days, Egypt’s state institutions and the government’s
loyalists have banded together, condemning terrorism but also moving
against any kind of dissent against the government.

On
Saturday, the owner of a major private satellite network replaced a
talk-show host, Mahmoud Saad, who had been mildly critical of the
government. In a statement, Al Nahar Television did not refer to a
specific incident, but said that “freedom of expression cannot ever
justify ridicule of the Egyptian Army’s morale.”

Other
television programs known for showing opposing views in the past three
years or more have quietly gone off the air.

The private Egyptian news
media has spoken in virtually unanimous support of the current
government since Mr. Sisi, then a general, ousted President Mohamed Morsi
of the Muslim Brotherhood last year. The statements by Al Nahar and the
newspaper editors appeared to formalize the private news media’s
policies of support for the government.

Also
on Sunday, a Cairo criminal court sentenced 23 non-Islamist activists
to three years in prison followed by three years of police surveillance
for organizing an unauthorized street demonstration in June.

The
activists were demonstrating against stringent restrictions on street
protests and other forms of assembly imposed after the military
takeover, and on Sunday they were sentenced under the same law.

Among
the high-profile defendants was Sanaa Seif, 20, a member of a prominent
family of leftist activists, and the lawyer Yara Sallam, 28, of the
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Each was also fined $1,400.
Thousands of others — including Islamists and other activists — have
been jailed for protests since the takeover.

Three Years in Prison for Rights Activist, Others

October 26, 2014

(Beirut) – A Cairo court of minor offenses handed down three-year
sentences to 23 people for breaking an anti-protest law that allows Egyptian authorities broad powers to ban
or disperse most public demonstrations.

One of those sentenced on
October 20, 2014, Yara Sallam, is a researcher with the Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights, one of the country’s leading human
rights organizations. The court also fined the defendants 10,000 EGP
(US$1,400) each.

Police arrested
the group on June 21 at a peaceful protest where they were calling for
the repeal of the law, which then-interim President Adly Mansour issued by decree on November 24, 2013. The defendants can appeal the verdict.

“It’s back to business as usual in Egypt, with the Egyptian government
brazenly trampling on the rights of its citizens and Western governments
supporting it,” said Sarah Leah Whitson,
Middle East and North Africa director. “The Sisi government will
clearly go to any length to crush domestic opposition, whether secular
or Islamist.”

Rights activists estimate that authorities have arrested hundreds for
breaking the law, which grants the Interior Ministry an absolute right
to ban protests or public meetings on the basis of “serious information
or evidence that there will be a threat to peace and security,” without
requiring any proof.

In June 2014, the United States released $575 million in military aid to
Egypt that it had frozen since a July 2013 military coup led by current
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that ousted former President Mohamed
Morsy.

It did so on the basis of a national security exception to
requirements that the State Department certify that Egypt was “taking
steps to support a democratic transition… and for the development
of…basic freedoms, including civil society and the media.”

Aswat Masriya

Alexandria — A student at the University of Alexandria was reported
dead on Tuesday morning due to wounds sustained during on-campus
violence last week.

Omar Abdel Wahab, a sophomore at the university's faculty of law, was
admitted into the university hospital following his injury last
Tuesday. He is the first student to die as a result of on-campus
violence during the current academic year, which started on October 11.

University campuses have witnessed unprecedented violence throughout
the past academic year, with at least 16 students killed amid on-campus
protests, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and
Expression's Student Observatory.

The pro-Mohamed Mursi "Students against the coup" movement has been
organising protests against the former Islamist president's military
ouster throughout the past academic year. Protests have often devolved
into clashes with security forces.

"Students against the coup" in the University of Alexandria mourned
the death of Abdel Wahab. In a statement released on Tuesday, the
movement vowed that the deceased student's blood "will not go in vain."

A number of students from the University of Alexandria organised a
demonstration protesting Abdel Wahab's death and calling for retribution
on Tuesday, an eye-witness told Aswat Masriya.

The Ministry of Interior said on October 14 that two policemen were
wounded in clashes between students who "belong to the Muslim
Brotherhood" and the security forces inside Alexandria University.

The security forces arrested 37 students, the ministry added in a
statement. It accused around 250 protesting students of vandalising one
of the gates and pelting security personnel outside the university with
rocks.

Mohamed Ramadan, an Alexandrian lawyer defending 16 students arrested
on background of the violence which took place in the University of
Alexandria on October 14, told Aswat Masriya that all 16 defendants were
"randomly arrested" from the scene of the violence, denying that any of
them has political affiliations.

The 16 defendants are accused of murdering Abdel Wahab, the attempted
murder of another student who was injured in the violence, illegal
assembly and protesting without notice, Ramadan said. They were detained
for 15 days on Thursday.

Before the start of the academic year, the cabinet discussed measures
to be adopted during the year to quell any possible tension.

Minister of Higher Education Sayed Abdel Khalek hired a private
security company on September 24 to guard 12 public universities during
the coming academic year.

Strict security measures adopted by Falcon Security Services at the
university gates nevertheless triggered violence from the students, who
became frustrated with their delayed entrance into campus.

The Cairo-based Democracy Index reported on Saturday the occurrence
of 58 student protests during the first week of the new academic year,
at the rate of almost 10 protests per day.

AFTE reported the arrest of over 200 students during the past week in
a report released on Saturday. AFTE said that 186 students remain
detained. Those arrested include 70 students arrested from their homes,
AFTE had earlier reported.

Eight domestic civil society organisations condemned the arrest of
students during the first three days of the year in a statement released
last Tuesday. International Watchdog Human Rights Watch also condemned
the students' arrest in a separate statement on the same day, calling
for their release.

Testimonies gathered by Amnesty International indicate that
Egyptian security forces used excessive force to crack down on student
demonstrations at Alexandria University this week, injuring at least 35
students and leaving three other students in a critical condition. Two
security officers were injured during the clashes according to official
figures.

Students interviewed by Amnesty International
described how protests that started peacefully on university grounds
later descended into violence. Security forces stationed outside the
university’s main gate fired tear gas and shotgun pellets at a crowd of
students, some of whom hurled ‘hmarich’ (fireworks), Molotov cocktails
and stones.

It is not clear how the clashes began but as they
intensified, security forces broke down the main gate storming the
university premises, chasing students and continuing to fire at them.

“The
Egyptian security forces have a bleak record of using arbitrary and
abusive force against protesters including students. The lack of
accountability for such violations, including unlawful killings, gives
them the green light to carry on brutalizing protesters,” said Hassiba
Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle
East and North Africa.

The demonstrations at Alexandria
University began in the early afternoon on 14 October when around 500
students gathered to protest against security measures introduced by the
university’s new security agency ‘Falcon’. The agency has been
contracted by the Ministry of Higher Education to maintain security in
15 universities across Egypt.

The new security measures imposed include
searches at the university gates, stricter policies on male and female
students mixing and the power to stop and search students on the
university campus at any time. The students were also protesting against
the unfair trials and prolonged detention of fellow students arrested
during previous demonstrations.

One student told Amnesty
International how security forces stationed outside the main gate had
shot at students protesting on campus nearby. “They started firing tear
gas followed by shotgun pellets.

The pellets were raining down on us and
I could see students around me getting injured. We were suffocated by
the tear gas and ran away moving further inside the university campus,”
he said.

Another student recounted how security forces who had
broken down the main gate chased students who sought refuge in the
Mechanical Engineering department building.

“They were even
following us with their armoured vehicles inside the university campus,”
he said.

“They started to shoot pellets and I saw my friend Abdel
Rahman Abdel Aziz shot in his mouth and eye, I carried him inside the
Mechanical Engineering building with the help of other colleagues to
seek protection, but the security forces followed us and continued to
shoot tear gas and pellets inside the building.”

Another student
who was inside the building told Amnesty International: “We were inside
on the ground floor of the Mechanical Engineering department building.
Security forces were shooting pellets and tear gas inside the building,
they broke the glass of the windows of the ground floor and continued
firing tear gas. They also fired pellets through gaps in the iron bars
of the door to the building.”

Evidence collected by Amnesty
International indicates that the security forces shot tear gas inside
the building and used firearms and pellets, randomly against students
when it was not necessary. One of the students injured during the
incident, Omar Abdelwahab, is in a critical condition after sustaining
pellet shots in his neck and both eyes.

“The government must act urgently to rein in the security forces,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Any
use of force in the policing of demonstrations, even when they have
turned violent or are regarded by the authorities as illegal, must
comply with international law.

The use of force by security forces is
prohibited by international law except as strictly necessary and to the
extent required for them to perform their duty. Firearms may only be
used as a last resort in self-defence or to protect others against the
imminent threat of death or serious injury. Tear gas should not be fired
at protesters inside buildings.

Widespread student protests
against the repressive practices of the current government have rocked
Egypt since the academic year began on 11 October and have been met by a
fierce response from the authorities. At least 200 students across the
country have been arrested during demonstrations and 90 have been
injured according to Marsad Tolab Horreya (Student Freedom Observatory),
an Egyptian student group that has been documenting violations during
university protests.

At least 150 students were arrested during
the protests at Alexandria University. Twenty-two remain in detention on
vague or groundless charges including participating in protests without
authorization.

All those arrested merely for peacefully
exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,
must be released immediately and unconditionally with all charges
against them dropped.

“Across the world, universities have
provided a fertile ground for debates and dissent. This should be
praised as a sign of a vibrant youth activism rather than crushed,” said
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Where there is sufficient evidence of
violent criminal activity against any protester, they must be tried only
on recognizably criminal charges in proceedings that conform to
international standards on fair trials.

Sixteen of the detained
students have been accused of attempting to murder two students who were
injured during the protests. The 16 students are also facing charges
such as injuring two police officers, protesting without authorization,
destroying public property and belonging to a banned group. These are
felony crimes under Egyptian law and may be punished by up to 15 years
in prison.

The six other students detained are accused of
belonging to a banned group, protesting without authorization,
possessing weapons and destroying public property. These are considered
misdemeanours punishable by up to three years in prison. The prosecutor
ordered the detention of the two groups on 16 October for 15 days.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: The
official Saudi Press Agency says five Saudi civilians were injured when a
group of Egyptians rioted in the northwestern Red Sea city of Duba in a rare protest by foreign workers in the kingdom.

The
news agency reported Monday that the workers threw rocks, burnt tires
and closed a major road late Sunday to protest their employers'
negligence. The protesters say they should have been provided
transportation back to Egypt by now.

The men are among 1,700 seasonal butchers who stay in Saudi Arabia during the month of hajj. They are typically paid around 1,500 riyals, or about $400.

Employers
often promise to pay for the roundtrip transportation to Saudi Arabia
from Egypt, giving the workers a rare chance to also perform the Muslim pilgrimage while there.

Why is the leftist movement in the Arab World weak, divided and
marginalized? Why have leftist movements not landed themselves in power
in any country since the so-called Arab Spring? What hopes lie in store
for them?

While leftists played an active role in the 2011 uprisings and in the
events that led up to them, they have since been eclipsed by the
better-organized political Islamists, military authorities, businessmen
and members of the ancien régimes.

These were some the questions and thoughts put up for debate at the
¨Contemporary Leftist Politics in the Arab World” conference held in
Tunis last Thursday. The event touched on what the broader leftist
movement across the region has been grappling with as the possibilities
of the 2011 uprisings continue to unfold.

The conference was organized by the Germany-based Rosa Luxemburg
Foundation in Tunisia. Named after the communist leader Rosa Luxemburg
— who was killed alongside many of her fellow leftist insurgents in
January 1919 at the hands of German troops following an attempted
workers' uprising in Berlin — the foundation inaugurated its first
office in the North Africa region on October 8.

The conference builds on two books published by the foundation this
month in Arabic and English mapping out the different leftist movements
in several Arab countries, while attempting to draw new lessons from
past histories.

That statement, however, came against a backdrop of self-criticism that loomed behind many discussions at the conference.

Ali, the founder of the Bread and Freedom Party, said that the
emergence of the left ¨depends on the ability to respond to the demands
of the populace and the streets.¨

“We should overcome our infighting and schisms, we must move beyond
talk of shortcomings and failures. Social and economic struggles lay
ahead of us, therefore we must be prepared and organized. We must shirk
violence, even if it is directed against us,” Ali said.

He added that
there are ¨generational conflicts¨ between the political outlooks of
younger and older leftists.

The Arab left ¨is stuck in an ongoing struggle between Islamist states
and military states,” Ali continued. “Both sorts of states threaten to
bury the peoples' revolutionary demands.”

He also slammed the position of some leftist figures and groups
vis-a-vis the Egyptian military’s ascent to power over the past year.

“Some have chosen to side with [President Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi in
hopes of wiping out Islamist politics,” Ali explained. “Others have
sided with him in hopes of landing themselves in office, or winning
parliamentary seats in the upcoming elections.”

Egypt’s problems were echoed by representatives of the leftist movement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Bassem Salhy of the Palestinian People's Party (PPP) explained that the
leftist movement there is fragmented amongst several small parties —
primarily the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, small communist
parties and the PPP.

“We've been seeking to unite our ranks for years, but have been unable
to do so. Therefore, we are presently just seeking coordination amongst
these different factions — for this is the least we can strive to
achieve,” he said.

Echoing Ali’s thoughts, Salhy hoped that the Palestinian left will not
be eclipsed by the Islamist Hamas Party and the liberal Fatah Party.

But unity is difficult to realize, he pointed out, "especially in light
of the fact that the Israeli occupation is actively seeking to thwart
efforts toward unity and reconciliation — even amongst Hamas and Fatah.”

“We need to step away from classical and outdated leftist politics. We
need to move toward the politics of socialist renewal and
reinvigoration,” Salhy concluded.

Another Egyptian socialist activist, Mohamed al-Agaty, argued that the
left is not short of ideas — it just hasn’t been given a chance to
implement them.

¨Many alternatives were proposed by leftist and progressive groups
since the January 25 revolution, nearly all of which were ignored or
sidelined,” Agaty said.

With the exception of a handful of elected parliamentarians and
appointed ministers who served brief and interrupted terms, the Egyptian
left did not succeed in influencing state policies.

However, participants chose to refer to their ¨shortcomings¨ rather than using the word “failures.”
Ahmed Abdel Hameed, a member of the Revolutionary Renewal Group, listed
several reasons underlying those “shortcomings” in the Egyptian
context, including a historical disillusionment with the politics of the
Soviet Union and its subsequent collapse, ¨the rigid bureaucracy of old
and new leftist parties alike, outdated classical centralism, the
inability of leftist groupings to unite in viable political fronts or
coalitions.¨

Leftists must learn from these mistakes and undo them if they seek to rise to prominence in the region, Abdel Hameed argued.

Despite these complications, Ali expressed hope for the new left in
terms of their contemporary social, political and economic stances.

¨Leftist youth in Egypt have sided with recent student protests,¨ he
pointed out, and the right to protest regardless of political
allegiances. “Leftist youth in Egypt have taken an open stance against
the new Protest Law, which greatly empowers the police, restricts the
right to protest and the freedom of assembly."

But many at the conference contended that taking part in formal
political processes is an important element for the success of the left.

Agaty said that the setbacks suffered by the Egyptian left were at
least partially attributed to ¨repeated boycotts of elections and
referendums that have kept leftists from interacting with voters and the
general populace.¨

Egyptian leftists remain divided as to whether or not to run their
candidates — or even to cast their ballots — in light of the draconian
political conditions currently prevailing in the country.

State officials have still not specified the exact dates for Egypt's
parliamentary elections, which are already overdue according to the
provisions of the new Constitution.

Tunisian representatives at the conference appeared more determined
with regards to fielding their candidates in their parliamentary
elections, which are slated for October 26.

Leftists in Tunis, where a unified left-leaning coalition called the
Popular Front has been gaining traction since 2012, appeared more united
and prepared for these upcoming legislative elections.

A spokesperson for the Popular Front, Mawloudi al-Qassoumi, explained
that this coalition initially included 11 constituent groupings, which
have now dropped to nine, including Marxist and Nasserist parties,
pan-Arab populists and others.

However, there are a host of other leftist, labor and communist groups
which are not affiliated to this front, and which have already fielded
their candidates.

¨The absence of a cohesive or unified left means a weakened stance, and
an inability to realize the revolutionary demands of the populace,”
Qassoumi said.

Despite their relative optimism with regards to the upcoming
parliamentary elections, Tunisian leftists expressed concern that the
Islamist Ennahda Party would win a majority of votes and seats.

“Otherwise, we shall continue to fail and lose
opportunities to reach out to the general population.”

*Photo by Jano Charbel

Author's note: Amongst the most serious shortcomings/failures of leftist movements in the Arab world is their inability to coordinate with local labor movements, trade unions, farmers' organizations, student unions, neighborhood-watch committees, environmental activists, squatter communities, etc.

Nearly none of the participants at this conference in Tunis mentioned these civil society groups, nor did they mention their inability to coordinate with them.

Most participants had state-centric outlooks and proposals - focusing on elections and representative democracy. Many of these participants spoke of leftist political parties, their role in parliamentary/presidential elections and "representative democracy." Nearly none spoke of direct democracy, or grassroots independent organizations.

Raids Aim to Suppress Campus Dissent

October 14, 2014

(Beirut) – Egyptian
authorities should release more than 110 university students arrested
since the start of the school year on October 11, 2014. The arrests were
apparently aimed at preventing a revival of campus protests that have
erupted repeatedly since the overthrow of the former president, Mohamed
Morsy, in July 2013. The arrests and subsequent activities appear to be
solely directed at the students’ peaceful exercise of the right to free
assembly.

Security forces arrested at least 71 students in 15 governorates on
October 11, according to the Students for Freedom Observatory, an
activist group formed this year to track worsening restrictions on
campus political activities. The group said many students were seized
from their homes in pre-dawn raids that involved uniformed police,
plainclothes officers, and heavily-armed special forces units.

Police
arrested another 44 on October 12 after protests erupted at universities
across the country, and a further 17 on October 13. Authorities have
released 14 students, the observatory said, but ordered many others
detained for 15 days pending investigation. One institution, Monofeya
University, ordered five students suspended for organizing protests, the
Observatory said.

“This mass arrest of students is a pre-emptive strike on free speech and free assembly,” said Joe Stork,
deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “Universities should be
safe zones for the exchange of ideas, including political debates.”

Most of those arrested apparently had participated in protests calling
for academic freedom and the release of previously detained students, as
well as expressing opposition to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former
defense minister who removed Morsy and was elected president in June.

In the 2013-2014 academic year following Morsy’s ouster, at least 14
students died in protest-related violence, according to the Egyptian
newspaper Al-Ahram.
Authorities delayed this academic year to mid-October to prepare for
demonstrations. In June, al-Sisi issued a presidential decree that
allows him to directly appoint university and faculty deans. Following a
2011 change made by Egypt’s post-revolutionary military rulers,
university faculty had elected their own leadership. University deans
can now dismiss faculty members for “crimes that disturb the educational
process.” Cairo University, the country’s preeminent secular higher
education institution, has banned all political activity. The government
has hired the private security firm Falcon to guard entrances at 12
universities.

Saturday’s campaign of arrests appeared to unfold the same way across Egypt.

Police arrived at the home of Mustafa Tarek, 21, at around 2:30 a.m. on
October 11, his brother, Mohamed, told Human Rights Watch. Tarek, a
recent graduate in engineering from Mansoura University, had helped
organize a boycott of the university’s final exams this year to protest
the beating of students by campus security guards. The university was
forced to reschedule the exams, his brother said.

Around two dozen uniformed and plainclothes police entered the family
apartment, located near the university, and refused to show Tarek’s
father a warrant when he asked for one, Mohamed said. When Mohamed
objected to the police entering Tarek’s bedroom, where Mohamed’s
four-year-old son was also sleeping, police punched him and his father,
Mohamed said. After overturning furniture and searching drawers, the
police took Tarek from the apartment. When Mohamed asked where they were
taking him, the police told him that it was none of his business.
Authorities questioned Tarek about whether he belonged to the Muslim
Brotherhood or organized protests and ordered him detained for 15 days,
Mohamed said.

Police took Islam Abdullah, 21, from his family’s home in the Shehadiyya
district of Damietta at around 1:30 a.m. on October 11, according to
his father, Gamal. Around 10 to 15 policemen wearing uniforms and
plainclothes, some armed with assault rifles, woke the family and took
Abdullah to the street, where two microbuses were waiting, the father
said.

Abdullah, a fourth-year commerce student at Damietta University, is
student union deputy president. His father said he did not know whether
his son had participated in protests. After police arrested Abdullah,
Gamal said he went to the city’s main state security building to wait.
At around 3 a.m., he said, he saw police march Abdullah, his hands
handcuffed in front of him, into the building. Gamal said he has
received no further information about his son.

Also at around 3 a.m. on October 11, in Cairo’s Sayyida Zeinab district,
police knocked on the door of Ibrahim Salah’s family apartment,
according to Salah’s mother, Aisha. They asked Salah, who answered the
door, for his university and personal identification cards, then
searched the apartment, overturning drawers and furniture. The group
included police officers and special forces troops who wore masks, she
said.

After police found a clothespin that said “The Martyr Abdel Rahman
Hassan,” Salah, a 23-year-old engineering student in his second year at
Helwan University, told them that it referred to a friend. The officers
took Salah’s mobile phone and laptop and did not respond when Aisha
asked where they were taking her son. They marched Salah from the
apartment, she said.

Aisha said that Salah’s older brothers visited the local police station
and prosecutor’s office, but authorities have not provided any
information about where he is being held or what charges he might face. A
police officer told a lawyer for the family that it would be better if
he did not follow them as they took Salah away, Aisha said.

“I just don’t want my son to be hurt, he’s a very good person, he
doesn’t deserve that,” she said. “I’m so scared for him, I’m so scared
for his sake. But I stood my ground, I didn’t break down.”

In another arrest at the same time, state security officers came to the
family apartment of Ahmed Yasser, a 22-year-old computer science student
in his fourth year at Helwan University, at around 3 a.m. on October
11, his sister Inas told Human Rights Watch. Three men carried weapons,
including a man who stood at the door with an assault rifle, she said.

The officers who searched the apartment, in Cairo’s Medinat Nasr
district, said they had come because Yasser was calling for protests on
October 12, according to Inas. Yasser, a vocal supporter of Morsy, had
once belonged to the university’s student union and had organized
“anti-coup” protests calling for the release of detained students, Inas
said.

Police had earlier arrested him at a protest in May 2014, and a
court sentenced him to five years in prison for protesting illegally,
belonging to a banned group, and insulting the army and police.
Authorities had released Yasser during the trial and had not re-arrested
him following his conviction, Inas said.

On October 12, she said, prosecutors ordered Yasser, now held in Madinat
Nasr’s First Police Station, to be held for 15 days pending
investigation.

The Nasr City prosecution has ordered the detention of three Al-Azhar
University students on Monday for their role in clashes on campus
pursuant to demonstrations against security forces yesterday, the second
day of classes.

The students face charges of rioting and inciting others to riot,
belonging to a terrorist organization, illegal assembly, thuggery and
vandalizing public property.

Clashes broke out at four Egyptian universities as students
demonstrated against the on-campus presence of the private security firm
Falcon. The security guards fled the altercation and allowed the police
to intervene.

At A-Azhar University, students reportedly destroyed Falcon’s offices
on the campus and broke the newly installed electronic gates.

On Sunday, the second day of school started exceptionally. Long queues
of students formed in front of Falcon’s gates. News reports stated that
Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students attacked security personnel in
several faculties, but there were widespread demonstrations against the
strict policies implemented by new private security company Falcon and
university guards.

At Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Students Against the Coup organized a
march to demand the release of their arrested colleagues and the return
to school of those who were expelled last year. The students also
protested against the strict policies of the new security company and
destroyed its office on campus. Later, police entered the campus,
arrested five students and closed several streets in the vicinity.

At Ain Shams University, students protested the long queues at the
gates and the new procedures implemented by Falcon, in collaboration
with the university’s guards, who closed the doors to Zafarana castle in
the middle of campus, as well as the faculties of science and computer
science.

At Cairo University, students organized a march that toured campus and
chanted against Falcon and military rule, which they said has led to a
state of chaos. Falcon security personnel fled the scene and five CSF
and Special Forces tankers entered the campus to disperse the protest,
arresting several students.

Students were also reportedly arrested yesterday from their houses in anticipation of activity on campuses. In a statement, the Freedom for the Brave student movement described the arrests as outrageous.

The spokesperson for Students against the Coup at Zagazig University,
Ahmed Nassef, told Mada Masr that recent events indicate the state’s
concern about a growing student movement, which, according to him did
not stop throughout the last school year and expanded to several major
squares off campus. “Our protests are peaceful, but self defense is a
right guaranteed by the law,” added Nassef.

The Ministry of Higher Education contracted Falcon Security to guard
and secure 15 universities, according to the website of the private
security company. Falcon Chief Executive Sherif Khaled informed Mada
Masr that their one year renewable contract with the ministry authorizes
the company to provide security services for a number of universities,
including Cairo, Ain Shams, Helwan, Al-Azhar, Alexandria, Beni Suef,
Zagazig, Mansoura, Assiut, Fayoum, Banha and Minya.

Khaled refused to disclose the amount of money agreed upon for Falcon’s
services due to client confidentiality, but stated that the Head of
Cairo University Gaber Nassar allocated LE50 million last year for
security, adding that the company does not even get 10 percent of that
amount for securing one campus.

The first members of Falcon security personnel appeared yesterday at
campus gates, searching students and demanding their identification
cards, which resulted in long queues.

Reports showed that clashes occurred between Falcon personnel and the
university guards and police were called to resolve the situation.

October 1, 2014

Jano Charbel

Touted as Egypt’s national project of the century, the construction of a
navigational bypass known as the “New Suez Canal” is projected to
replenish the state’s coffers with billions, while providing one million
new job opportunities in the process. However, it has thus far
displaced well over 2,000 longtime residents living by the planned
course of this new megaproject – rendering them both homeless and
jobless.

According to lawyers for the displaced, well over 1,000 residential
units have been torn down and their agricultural lands confiscated since
the beginning of this month, in the villages of Qantara Sharq and
Abtal, just east of the central part of the Suez Canal.

No monetary compensation has yet been paid for the demolitions, nor has
alternate housing been provided, although state officials have pledged
allotted plots of empty land, amounting to a mere 150 square meters per
family.

Displaced families have been told that they will be repatriated in the
villages of Amal and Ahrar, near Qantara Sharq, around 130 kilometers
northeast of Cairo.

Neither the Suez Canal Authority nor the governorate of Ismailia has
thus far made any mention of compensation for loss of agricultural lands
and farmers’ livelihoods.

In addition to being displaced from their homes, lands, and
livelihoods, these evicted residents are being denied work opportunities
in the New Suez Canal Project, due to unspecified security concerns.

A lawyer for the displaced families, Sherine al-Haddad, warns that as
this new megaproject pushes forth from the central canal governorate of
Ismailia, and hundreds of additional homes may be demolished.

According
to her, an estimated 2000, or more, residents living and working along
its trajectory may also potentially be displaced from their villages,
which lay along the route of the planned bypass.

Earlier this month, the Armed Forces and governorate of Ismailia began
the process of evicting some 2,500 locals and demolishing their homes,
while simultaneously confiscating hundreds of feddans (one feddan = 1.038 acres) of their family-owned agricultural lands.

Many, if not most, of these uprooted families have resided in the town
of Qantara Sharq and the nearby village of Abtal for up to 30 years,
whilst reclaiming their surrounding desert environs into farmlands,
primarily through the cultivation of mango trees.

Haddad tells Mada Masr there are approximately 500 families, whose
members total well over 2,000, that have been hastily displaced from
their homes and lands.

“These families were given very little notice prior to their eviction –
just around one week – and have not received any concrete form of
compensation. Only promises from the officials involved in the New Suez
Canal Project.”

Haddad adds that an additional 500 families, amounting to another
2000–2500, may be evicted from their homes over the course of the year,
and may also have their farmlands confiscated to make way for the
planned route of the canal, along with its planned zones for industry,
services and investment.

“Beyond Qantara Sharq and Abttal, additional villages located to the
east of Ismailia’s Bitter Lakes may similarly be wiped away to make
space for the new project,” she says.

The project, which is actually a new artery (rather than a second
canal) for the existing international waterway, is planned to run 72
kilometers parallel to the Suez Canal, and lies east of the original
canal.

The lawyer points out that the Sinai Peninsula is virtually all
military and state-owned land, and that “all civilian claims of land
ownership here are thus considered contentious.”

It is on this basis that the authorities have evicted the residents of
Qantara Sharq and Abtal, tore down their homes, and dug up their
farmlands. “They’ve been evicted from these two villages as they are
situated on land between the old Suez Canal and the new project,” she
explains.

Regardless of original land claims, Haddad points out, “The evicted
residents had been residing on these lands for nearly three decades.
Thus, by virtue Egypt’s occupancy regulations and the construction of
permanent homes on these lands for more than eight to 15 years legally
recognizes it as their abodes.”

“Further recognizing their residency on these lands are the utility
bills that these residents have been paying the governorate of Ismailia
over the course of the years and decades in which they have lived
there,” she adds.

Diaa Eddin Negm has been residing and farming in the village of Abtal
for the past 30 years. He and his nine sons have been forced off their
lands, and are now internally displaced people with no means of income.

Negm explains that his family’s lands are not officially registered in
their name with the governorate of Ismailia, “yet we’ve been paying our
gas bills, electricity bills, and landline phone bills to the
governorate from our address for well over 20 years.”

At over 60 years of age, Negm says “I’m a farmer, as was my father and
grandfather before him. This is my profession and that of my children.
I’m an ageing farmer who is too old to learn a new profession, or to
seek alternate job opportunities. Farming is all I know.”

Further adding to their plight, Negm explains that “after our eviction,
I sought other employment opportunities for my nine sons, each of whom
has a family of his own.”

When the elderly farmer asked security authorities in Ismailia for
permits to allow his children and grandchildren to work with contracting
companies on the New Suez Canal Project, he and his extended family
were all denied work permits.

“When he found out that we were evicted residents of Abtal, the
presiding police general told me that due to security concerns we were
not allowed to work on the project. He did not specify what these
security concerns are,” he says.

“These authorities don’t trust them, as several families and residents
have been resisting or protesting their evictions, and some have been
detained for doing so. The authorities fear they may stir up trouble
along the new project,” she adds.

“So what else are they to do for a living these days?” she asks.

Negm and his extended family are currently living north of the village
of Serabium in Ismailia. “We’re all renting apartments now, with the
rent being paid from our own pockets. We’re all unemployed now. We’ve
received no compensation or alternate housing has yet been provided,” he
says.

Negm hopes that the Ismailia governorate will specify the exact
location of the 150 square meters on which they will be allowed to build
new, permanent homes.

“Together we owned 34 feddans of mango orchards from which we
earned our livelihoods, and nine separate homes. The average size of
these units was 250 square meters.”

“Regarding the New Suez Canal Project, I am personally both pleased and distressed with it,” Negm concludes.

“To President Sisi, I say: we support your national project and
nationwide ambitions. Yet we require agricultural land to sustain
ourselves, even if just three or four feddans per family. We are willing to reclaim desert lands, to plant them and turn them into fertile farmlands.”

On August 5, Sisi addressed the nation, stating that this megaproject
would serve as a “new artery of life benefiting Egypt, its great people
and the whole world.”

However, the forcefully evicted residents of Qantara Sharq and Abtal have not felt any of these benefits.

Another displaced mango farmer from the village of Abtal, Ibrahim
al-Sayyed, also sent a message of despair to the president. “My family
and I voted for President Sisi, and will vote for him again in the
upcoming presidential elections. We support the president and his great
national project that will help the economy of the whole country.
However, we also want to have homes and farms of our own, as we did just
three weeks ago,” he says.

Sayyed hails from a family that has been living and farming in Abtal
for the past 30 years. “We have bills and receipts to prove our
residency here.”

Together with his family, the 25-year-old Sayyed worked and owned six feddans of mango orchards. The displaced family of 12 had owned a home measuring over 260 square meters.

Like most other residents of Abtal, Sayyed claims he was given a 10-day
notice to vacate his home and farmland. Like the others evicted, they
were not given any compensation – only the pledge of a 150 square meters
of land on which they are to build a new home – using their own
resources.

They now rent two small apartments in the village of Serabium, “one in
which we all live together, and another in which we have placed all our
furniture and belongings,” he says.

They are now paying LE1,000 in rent for both units, although they’ve lost their land and only source of income.

“I have asked about any sort of paid work or service that my relatives
or I could provide on the new project, but were turned down when the
officials learned that we were displaced from Abtal,” he says.

“In the 1980s, under President Hosni Mubarak, my family and other
farming families were encouraged to settle to the east of the canal in
Sinai. Now we’ve been pushed back to west of the canal, have been driven
from our homes, lands and jobs,” Sayyed explains.

Haddad says she aims to reach an amicable settlement with the
respective state authorities – the governorate of Ismailia, Ministry of
Agriculture, Armed Forces, and the Suez Canal Authority - through the
channels of legal mediation and arbitration.

“Failing this, I will take my clients’ cases to the State Council Court.”

According to Egypt’s Constitution of 2014, Article 35 stipulates that
private properties shall be protected and the right to inheritance
thereto guaranteed. Private property may not be placed under
sequestration except in those cases specified by law, and with a court
order. Private property may not be expropriated except for the public
interest, and with fair compensation paid in advance in accordance with
the law.

Constitutional Article 63 stipulates that arbitrary forced displaced of
citizens in all its forms and manifestations is prohibited and is a
crime with no statute of limitations.

Committee to Protect Journalists

October 1, 2014

Sherif Mansour

The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was given a great platform
for his country last week, with a speech at the United Nation's General
Assembly in which he said that his "new Egypt" would "guarantee freedom
of speech," and his first ever meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.

However, when pressed by Obama, the U.S. media, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over concerns about the absence of due process for detainees and the sentencing of journalists, al-Sisi argued that he wanted to respect the independence of the Egyptian judiciary.

His contradictory responses were further illustrated by reports today that Bassem Youssef,
a 2013 awardee of the Committee to Protect Journalists' International
Press Freedom Awards, is under investigation and has been banned from
travel. The experiences of the satirical journalist are the latest
example of the Egyptian government's use of legal action, arbitrary
detention, media vilification and other forms of censorship that have
placed the country on CPJ's most recent Risk List.

As president, al-Sisi has executive power. Since grabbing legislative control in June, and in the absence of Parliament, the former army chief has appointed allies as judicial officials.But
when it comes to releasing journalists and allowing critics such as
Youssef to express their views, al-Sisi claims suddenly that his hands
are tied.

Youssef has been accused of insulting al-Sisi and his media allies
during an altercation with members of the press who were accompanying
the president on his visit to New York last week, according to news reports.
Youssef, who hosted a popular satirical news program, told me in a
message that he has become the victim of a media witch hunt in the past
two days.

The investigation against him is based on a tweet
posted by Khaled Abou Bakr, a lawyer and co-host of the TV show
"Al-Qahera Alyoum," which runs on the pro-government privately owned
Orbit channel. Bakr's tweet claimed Youssef had insulted and mocked
al-Sisi in public.

A "legal plaintiff complaint" has been filed to Egypt's Prosecutor General, but Youssef mocked
it on Twitter, highlighting how it called for the withdrawal of his
citizenship, and for him to be both kicked out of the country and banned
from travel.

It is not the first time Youssef has come under pressure from the
Egyptian government and its supporters. In his satirical show "Al
Bernameg" (The Program), which at one point had more than 40 million
viewers, Youssef critiqued government failures to improve the economy,
public services, and safety, and its efforts to suppress opinion. In
2012, the Morsi-led government pursued criminal charges against Youssef
for the very same accusation of "insulting the president."

An arrest warrant for Youssef was issued in March 2013, and he had to
report to the prosecutor general for a six-hour investigation. However,
to his credit, Morsi withdrew
the complaint in April 2013, "out of respect for freedom of expression
and freedom of the press." It remains to be seen if we can expect the
same outcome from al-Sisi.

The prospects are pretty grim. When Youssef first criticized those investigating the then Egyptian Defense Minister al-Sisi, after Morsi was ousted in July 2013, his show was taken off the air multiple times. He eventually had to announce its end in June after pressure
and harassment in the lead up to al-Sisi taking office in August--
something he didn't have to do under Morsi. Lacking a platform, Youssef
and many other independent voices, have been forced into silence.

Since Morsi was ousted by the military in July, dozens of reporters have been detained. According to CPJ research 11 journalists were still behind bars in mid-September.

However, the ball is still in al-Sisi's court. If he and his
government are in any way serious about the "new Egypt" that al-Sisi
boasted of in front of the U.N. last week, they could immediately
withdraw charges against Youssef; they could release journalists who are
being held without charge for extended periods of time, such as
freelance photographer Mahmoud Abou Zeid;
they could expedite the appeal of the Al-Jazeera journalists who have
been waiting for a hearing since June; and they could give amnesty to
indicted journalists including Abdel Rahman Shaheen, a correspondent for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice News Gate website.

But most importantly, the Egyptian government could amend the penal
code to ensure journalists are not prosecuted for doing their job in the
first place, and to prevent members of the press being detained
arbitrarily. This will be the ultimate test, and one that Morsi and
al-Sisi have failed in so far.

Saudi authorities arrested an Egyptian pilgrim in Mecca for protesting against Arab leaders on Tuesday.

The Egyptian was taken to Al-Taif psychiatric hospital for a
check-up, a source in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told
Daily News Egypt.

The pilgrim was “chanting against Arab rulers, accusing them of harming Islam,” during a hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca.

The Egyptian Minister of Endowments Mohamed Gomaa called for his deportation to Egypt to be arrested and tried.

The death toll of Egyptian pilgrims this year reached 13,
reported state-owned Al-Ahram, while confirming that there are no
outbreaks of disease among them. The annual religious event often
results in the death of scores pilgrims as a result of being trampled by
crowds or from exhaustion.

The hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi
Arabia. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be carried out
at least once by every adult Muslim who is physically and financially
capable of undertaking the journey.